


and still the sea is salt

by lorelaislatte



Category: The Haunting of Bly Manor (TV)
Genre: F/F, anniversary fun, but it's not toooo heavy promise, but it’s not deliberately it’s just Sad because of What We Know, cute little one shot time, jamie is the founder of the dani clayton appreciation society, okay this is making a lot of people cry so maybe is it angst, the actual fic is very sweet, there's a few undercurrents of angst bc this takes place within the timeline, tumblr prompt fulfilment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-18 02:34:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29727012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lorelaislatte/pseuds/lorelaislatte
Summary: “Are we, uh, camping?”Jamie grins at her with an affectionate eye roll, taking Dani’s hand in her own. “With a blanket and ten cookies between us? C’mon, Poppins,” she says with a grin, leaning in to kiss her cheek as they shut the door behind them. “I’d bring us a croissant, at least.”
Relationships: Dani Clayton/Jamie
Comments: 48
Kudos: 121





	and still the sea is salt

**Author's Note:**

> this is a slight deviation from a tumblr prompt - "jamie buys dani a star for her birthday" - but this idea made me emotional and i wanted to devote a lot more than 500 words to it, so it became...this
> 
> title from a. e. housman's 'stars, i have seen them fall', a beautiful poem about how the stars seem to fall but remain resolute. if you're feeling particularly pretentious, you can read it as a nod to how dani never truly leaves jamie's life. if you're not, well, it's a nice poem

Waking to the smell of pancakes and the sight of Dani in nothing but one of her old t-shirts is something Jamie thinks is the closest she’ll ever get to heaven.

It’s become somewhat of a routine, the week of their anniversary. Taking it in turns to make each other breakfast - Dani’s attempts usually turning out a lot better than hers - and working the shop together instead of their usual rota. Dani doesn’t like to be alone in the shop these days, the worry of her reflection and too many vases dropped to be totally unsupervised, but despite that, Jamie still thinks of it as one of hundreds of traditions they’ve developed over the years, a way to extend the joy and relief at another year together as far as possible. Every day with Dani is a gift, but the milestones are meaningful to the both of them, and ten years, well. That’s worth the extra attention.

She gives Dani a sleepy smile, leaning in for a kiss as Dani passes her a plate, flicking the television on behind them for background noise. They’ve got another hour until the shop needs opening, an hour to enjoy slowly waking up together, for Jamie to watch with an amused look as Dani _drowns_ her pancakes in maple syrup, her sugar-to-tea ratio apparently extending to a fair range of other things, as Jamie’s learned over the years. “Gotta say, Poppins,” she says around a mouthful. “Some of your finest work.”

Dani grins at her, stealing a bit of one of Jamie’s pancakes. “Not bad, huh.”

“Dani Clayton, pancake thief and dream wife.”

They fall into a peaceful quiet, a rerun of _Golden Girls_ filling the space around them as they eat. At some point Dani shuffles her legs to lie across Jamie’s, the warm weight a welcome one in the early spring chill. Dani’s presence is enough to set her ablaze, and with her hair still in a messy braid, mismatched eyes lit up in the sunlight, Jamie knows that a hundred years could pass, a thousand years could fly past in the blink of an eye, and Dani would still be the most beautiful woman alive to her. 

As much as she’d love to sit and watch her wife all day, business calls, and it feels like the time is already flying by as they open up, moving an assortment of plants and displays outside, flipping the sign on the door. Dani’s getting to work on the orders due - they’ve got two pickups, one anniversary bouquet, one pansy wreath for someone’s birthday, and Jamie is more than happy to let Dani take those, leaving her to sweep up any fallen leaves and get ahead on the cash register. She likes the morning routine, finds it comforting, familiar. Boring, in the best way possible. If Bly had taught her anything, it’s that mundanity is to be treasured, gripped tightly with both hands and cherished.

Back in the early days, Dani had been a little reluctant to take on the more hands-on side, leaving the plants to Jamie and taking on the admin herself. Jamie had been determined to get her out of that shell, spending evening after evening talking her through bouquet arrangement, plant care, how to make a wreath, what flower colours and combinations work best together, and Dani had soon come into her own - plus, she’s got the better customer attitude between the two of them. There’s only so many _woah, you’re British,_ comments Jamie can handle at a time, however well meaning they are.

Both of their order collections are mercifully on time, leaving Jamie with an hour to add to their bouquet displays, one of her favourite parts of the job. She likes to try and weave little messages in - nobody really pays attention to flower languages anymore, but Dani always asks her to talk about it if she’s had a nightmare, and Jamie has spent hour after hour learning everything she can, making sure she can keep talking for as long as Dani needs her to in the bad nights. Might as well get a business use out of it too. The one she’s working on conveys gratitude, a mixture of bellflowers and amaranth, and she adds a hand-written card to explain the meaning on the ribbon. Even though customers don’t tend to pay too much attention, it’s worth it when someone picks up on it. Adds a personal touch, something to set them apart from the other florists in the city.

It’s a slow day, most of their customers just stopping by to browse, and Jamie is trying to work out the perfect moment to speak, wanting to appear at least a little casual even as she feels that familiar tingle of excitement that appears every time her and Dani have a date night. It’s one of the things that still surprises her - she knows she’ll only ever love Dani more, but so many people talking about how the sparks fade and mundanity takes over had given her the assumption that the same could happen to them.

Foolish, really. Nothing about her and Dani has ever been comparable to anyone else.

She flicks her eyes up from the table, waiting for Dani to finish her stocktake before speaking. “You’re free tonight, right?” _As if we’ve spent a night apart in years,_ she thinks. _Subtle._

Dani looks at her oddly from across the shop floor. “Uh, yeah. Did we schedule something in?”

Jamie looks down at the bouquet she’s putting together. “No. Just want to spend some time with you.”

“And this has nothing to do with the fact that it’s our anniversary tomorrow?”

 _Rumbled_. “No,” Jamie says, knowing all too well the coy smile on her face is betraying her. “Just another Thursday.”

She hears Dani hum from across the shop, her soft footsteps coming behind the counter as she scans outside before slipping her arms around Jamie’s waist. “Well,” she begins, voice low, making Jamie’s insides curl. “I’m sure we can come up with something.” She feels Dani kiss her shoulder, then again, her arms tightening, and Jamie is _just_ about to turn to kiss her properly when the bell above the door rings.

Customers may make their business possible, but _God_ , do they pick their moments.

Dani’s arms drop from around her immediately as she approaches the woman with a smile. Jamie should get back to her bouquet, really, but her eyes follow Dani as she takes the woman around, talking non-stop about their pricing and bundles, asking what the event is and what her favourite flowers are. Jamie treasures moments like this, getting to properly see Dani in her element, watching her thrive in the world they’ve built for themselves. Moments like this that she saves to her memory, to keep with her when the inevitable happens. A way to remember Dani as she is _now_ , not under the Lady’s clutches.

Still. There’s plenty of time to think about the future when it happens.

One day at a time.

Dani catches her eye across the floor and smiles as she lets the customer look over their freesias, blushing at Jamie’s wink as she looks her up and down, finally finishing the bouquet and moving it over to their main display table. She can hear Dani take the customer over to the counter, ringing up her order and getting to work on it, and she lets herself just pause for a minute, letting their mantra of _one day at a time_ settle in her mind. Today is a good day. A good day where Dani’s eyes are bright, her smile is wide, she’s got something to look forward to.

The good days are what she holds on to.

*

“Jamie, it’s _late.”_

Jamie looks up from the kitchen, where she’s been making them a thermos of hot chocolate to take out, putting it into her backpack with a pack of Dani’s favourite biscuits. “It’s only eleven. Getting old, Poppins?”

Dani’s look of concern turns to a grin. Jamie’s learned that teasing jokes about time passing, about Dani getting old, Dani being _able_ to get old, have a certain resonance within her wife. It’s yet another way they’ve found to keep tabs on the years, to learn to relax a little in the moment as their time together gets gradually longer and longer. Dani had _delighted_ in the first few silver hairs that had appeared in Jamie’s brunette curls, had treasured each one as it had emerged. It’s once again a sign of the permanence they’ve managed to find in the passing years, something to anchor Dani back into her life, away from the Lady and the worry she gets dragged under and stuck in. Time may not heal that particular wound, but it can soothe over the rest of them - sometimes, that’s enough.

“Go on,” Jamie says with a smile. “Get a jumper on. It’s cold out.”

“I’ll say.”

Dani disappears back into their bedroom, and Jamie takes the moment to move the envelope into her rucksack. She’s not quite nervous, not exactly, but ten years is a big deal for them, both as a couple and individually, and she hopes she’s got the tone right. It feels like Dani’s good days are getting slowly smaller in number, the Lady making her presence known that little bit more as the months go on. Dani’s mind wanders a little more, her hands feel a little colder. But Jamie is nothing if not devoted, and she’s certainly not going to let Dani see her worry. Especially not at such an important time. 

She thinks back to the conversation in the diner, all those years ago, the way Dani had been scared to even talk about the idea of having a few months together. Ten years and two middle fingers to the Lady later, and her heart still floods in that familiar way as Dani reappears, her favourite pink jumper on and her hair still slightly messy from their earlier activities. Dani is the most precious sight in the world, in any and all states, and damn her if she’s ever going to forget the way her jumper sleeves are always just slightly too long, her post-sex hair that bit bouncier even as Dani smooths a hand over it.

“You owe me a hot bath when we’re back.”

“Deal. Got your walking shoes?”

“Yeah,” Dani wanders over, tugging them on as Jamie double checks she’s got everything, taking the blanket they keep on the arm of the sofa and tucking it under her arm along with her coat as Dani’s eyebrow arches, clearly trying to work out the scene in front of her.

“Are we, uh, camping?”

Jamie grins at her with an affectionate eye roll, taking Dani’s hand in her own. “With a blanket and ten cookies between us? C’mon, Poppins,” she says with a wink, leaning in to kiss her cheek as they shut the door behind them. “I’d bring us a croissant, at least.”

*

Jamie leads them to Red Rocks Park, one of Dani’s favourite places in Burlington. Jamie knows how much she enjoys the trees, particularly in the autumn, and it’s a clear night, just as she’d hoped. There’s a few benches down on the riverbank, but Jamie takes them a little higher up, away from the clearings and up to where she knows there’s space at the top of the slope where they can see over the town and across the state boundary into New York, a whole other world across the water.

Dani is quiet on the way, content to enjoy the mystery of the night as she looks at the lights below them, commenting briefly on how small the town looks. “Still weird to see it from up here,” she says with a smile, and Jamie squeezes her hand in response. 

They fit, in Burlington. It’s a fairly small city, as far as state capitals go, but they’ve made a home and a life there. It’s small enough to be familiar, big enough to ensure them a degree of anonymity, a constantly rotating cast of customers. Jamie can practically map it out in a whirl of date nights and exploratory walks, of Dani getting ice cream on her nose on a trip to see the Ben & Jerry’s factory, of dinners and movie trips and breathless laughter. For her, the city is woven with fragments of Dani, of all the memories she’s trying so hard to preserve. She tries not to think too much about the future, but it’s reassuring to know that Dani’s legacy is built into the brickwork here, as tangible as Dani is herself.

They finally get to the top of Red Rock Peak, finding it conveniently empty, and Jamie spreads the blanket she’d brought out on the grass, sitting down as she moves her rucksack around. Dani watches her for a moment before sitting next to her, rolling her eyes affectionately as Jamie produces a couple of beers from their fridge, handing one to Dani.

“What was that, about _just another Thursday?_ ”

Jamie grins at her, clinking their bottles together. “No such thing as a boring day with you. Just thought we’d pay a bit of extra attention to this one.”

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.” Jamie takes a deep breath. “So, ten years. Ten years of loving you. I wanted to do something special, for both of us.”

“Okay.”

She moves to pull the envelope out of her rucksack, handing it over to Dani, who opens it slowly. She stares at the certificate for a moment, and when she looks back up at Jamie, there are tears in her eyes, moments away from falling.

“You bought us a star.”

Jamie grins, feeling herself well up a little. “Two stars. It’s a binary system. Two stars that just orbit around the same bit of gravity, just the two of them. Always have, always will. They’re each other’s entire universes, technically. Destined to stay with each other.”

Dani is quiet, staring back down at the certificate. 

“Like us,” Jamie adds softly, feeling Dani’s hand reaching for hers. She rubs her thumb over her knuckles, leaning down to press a kiss to them. “So, when your Lady comes, _if_ she does, you’re still with me. Still revolving around me, as I am you. Up there.”

Dani’s tears are coming thick and fast, and Jamie shifts closer to her, an arm around her shoulders as she pulls Dani close to her. “All I’m going to need to do is look, and there you are. Told you. Nobody’s going anywhere, not really.”

“Jamie-” Dani cuts herself off, burying her face into Jamie’s shoulder as she reaches for her, an arm tucking around her waist. “I’m gonna miss you.”

“Me too. But right now, it’s you, and me, and a couple of stars, and ten years to celebrate tomorrow. And that’s what matters, yeah?”

“Yeah.” Dani exhales shakily, shifting her head to look up at the sky as Jamie’s hand begins to play with her hair, running her fingers through it. Dani hums gently at the feeling, Jamie turning her head just enough to place a kiss to Dani’s hairline. 

“Which ones are us?”

Jamie squints at the sky, evidently trying not to laugh. “Gotta say, Poppins,” she says, turning to Dani with a grin. “I haven’t got a fucking clue.”

*

It becomes another tradition, going stargazing. Not just on anniversaries, though Jamie knows from the company that that’s when the system is most visible. Dani’s bad days are getting more frequent, and it seems to be one of the best ways to ground her, to remind her that no matter how much the Lady rages it’s still Dani and Jamie and their stars in the sky, a representation of the way they tether each other.

It’s on their twelfth anniversary that they finally work out which stars are them. Lying on the back, looking up for the _Clayton System_ \- the legal name of the stars, another detail that continues to make Jamie’s heart thud, in the same way it always does when her married name is used - Dani finally gasps, moving the certificate with the picture out of the way. “I’ve got it!” she says excitedly, tugging on Jamie’s hand.

“See that? The Virgo one?”

Jamie follows where her hand is pointing, looking down at the picture and comparing it to the stars above them. “I think so. That bright one is the end on the left, right?”

“Yeah. Now look below it. There’s two almost overlapping each other. That’s us.”

It takes Jamie’s eyes a second to adjust, but she finally settles where Dani’s finger is marking, feeling a watery smile overtake her. The stars in question are only just distinguishable, so close are they orbiting, and they match the diagram on the certificate perfectly. There’s no question; they’ve finally found their namesakes, glittering below the constellation of Persephone, and Jamie shifts onto her side, slinging an arm around Dani and pressing a kiss to her cheek. “So it is,” she says softly.

“It’s so pretty.”

“So are you.”

“ _Jamie.”_

She chuckles, looking back up. “It _is_ pretty. Wasn’t sure we’d ever find it.”

“What are the odds, huh.”

Jamie feels the exact same way about them. What were the odds, that that red string of fate just happened to link between them? That something brought Dani Clayton sailing through the doors of Bly Manor, put Jamie in the gardens with a tough shell and a natural curiosity, threw them together as if they were never supposed to be anywhere else?

“I can hear you thinking.”

She smiles, pressing another kiss to Dani’s cheek. “Thinking about you, as always.”

“Charmer.”

“You love it.”

The stars seem to twinkle that bit brighter above them as Dani turns onto her side, leaning forwards to kiss Jamie properly. “Happy twelve years,” she says quietly, moving some fallen strands of brunette and silver out of Jamie’s face.

“Happy twelve years, love. Here’s to many more.”

**Author's Note:**

> thank you to the anon who submitted this, it's truly one of my favourite prompts of all time


End file.
